


It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas

by mocking_words



Series: 12 Days of Romanogers (Christmas 2016) [9]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, tree decorating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 09:51:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8974861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mocking_words/pseuds/mocking_words
Summary: The Avengers decorate the Christmas tree





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elcapitan_rogers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elcapitan_rogers/gifts).



> solnyshko - sun

His favourite part of Christmas was decorating the tree. It had been some sort of a twisted dream in fact when he was much younger. His family had been poor; there had been no talks of getting a real tree, only a plastic one at best. Some years it was a blessing had they been able to afford any presents at all, let alone a tree. Family had come first and foremost, so, the presents, or lack thereof, didn’t affect him. He was contented with spending some good times with his mother and Bucky. The Barnes were wonderful people, always looking after him whenever they could. It had gotten him through the toughest of times, having someone to lean on. Nowadays, though, he spent most of the holidays with whom he considered a second family; the Avengers. Tony was famed for throwing all sorts of crazy parties and while Steve attended them, it was hard for him to like them very much. He preferred when it was just them, laughing about some stupid joke Clint made or trying to figure out who was worthy enough to lift Thor’s famed hammer. It felt more intimate, a quiet occasion where they could just be themselves without any pretences.

Natasha was more than happy to just stay home and spend time with him; she wasn’t particularly into parties anyway.  
  
It had been a couple of days after he had been released from the hospital and Natasha had not let him out of her sight.   
  
"Good morning," he greeted, pouring himself a cup of coffee as she shuffled into the kitchen. She made a little noise as she wrapped her arms around his torso. He smiled, setting the cup down and placing a kiss on the top of her head. She had been a lot clingier as of late, especially after what had happened so he made it a point to always hold her a little bit longer and kiss her a little bit harder every time.   
  
"We've got to go to HQ soon," he said, taking a sip of coffee as she yawned. It was only half seven but they had all gone to bed early yesterday so it wasn't all that bad.   
  
"It's way too early in the morning," she mumbled, running a hand through her messy hair. He smiled, watching her pull it into a bun, "Nat?"   
  
"Hm?"   
  
"I love you. You know that, right?" He said, meeting her gaze as she stopped whatever she was doing.   
  
"Yeah," she said, softly, "And you know I don't want to lose you, right?"   
  
"Of course," he replied, pulling her into his arms, "You're not going to lose me, Nat. I promise you that. I mean I'd stake my life on that promise but I don't think that'd be a great idea."   
  
"Ass," she muttered.   
  
"We're okay," he promised, a smile on his face as he kissed her, "I'm still here." 

* * *

They had gotten a tree a few days prior and had already set about decorating it. It wasn’t his first Christmas with Natasha, but he always felt it was just as special as the first one he’s ever spent with her. She loved making the tree as tasteful as possible, leaving out gaudy baubles and unnecessary fairy lights out of the way. Although she’d definitely bought a unicorn bauble before, he’d seen it hanging from the tree by the corner next to a candy cane, even though she wouldn’t admit that she’d bought it. Before anything else, though, they had been enlisted to decorate the tree in the Avenger’s Tower.  
  
“How big do you think it’ll be this year?” Natasha asked as they drove through the busy New York streets, tugging at her boots. The Avengers had left the liberty of choosing the tree this year to Tony despite knowing his tendency to go overboard.   
  
“Well, I’m guessing it might just be massive considering Tony,” Steve chuckled, lowering the volume of the radio that was playing Michael Bublé’s Christmas album.   
  
“Hm,” she hummed, looking out the window, “I wonder if it’ll snow this year.”   
  
“It might just be a white Christmas according to the news,” Steve replied, taking a turn onto the street where Avengers HQ was, “We’ll never know.”   
  
The street was filled with people, but Tony had buffed up security ever since the Ultron incident. He’d installed a facial recognition system and retinal scanning amongst other things to prevent unauthorised access to the facility.   
  
Steve pulled over, leaving the automated parking system to do its job. Tony had just installed it and it was the coolest thing ever in his opinion. It was space saving and it saved the hassle of parking a car. Technology was a great thing.   
  
He intertwined his fingers with Natasha’s as they walked towards the elevators. James was already at the Tower; Pepper and Wanda had picked him up earlier to take him shopping. His two aunts were obsessed with him; it was a real sweet thing to look at, how much they loved him. Besides doting on Clint’s kids, they had a new target now.   
  
“I feel like we’re going to have our work cut out for us,” Steve sighed as she leant against him in the elevator. “It’s going to be fun, James’ loves this bit the best after all,” she smirked, “You love decorating the tree as much as he does.”   
  
“You’re right,” he replied just as the doors opened, “Although, I can’t say I’m cut out to decorate a fifteen feet tall tree.”   
  
Natasha’s eyes widened at the huge tree as they stepped out of the elevator, “God, Tony’s done it again this time.”   
  
“Mummy! Daddy!” James yelled, hopping off the sofa and running towards them. Steve picked him up easily, ruffling his hair, “Hey sport.”   
  
“Hi _solnyshko_ ," Natasha smiled, leaving a kiss on their son’s cheek, “How was your day?”   
  
“It was a lot of fun! Aunt Wanda and Aunt Pepper got me a Nerf gun.”   
  
“Did they?” Natasha laughed as Steve set James down. “Yeah! Uncle Clint said he would teach me how to use it and then we could go prank Uncle Tony with it!”   
  
“He said what now?” Tony hollered as he walked out from the kitchen, “Katniss Everdeen, get out here.”   
  
“I said nothing of the sort,” Clint called out from where he was seated on the couch, holding his hands up in surrender, “I’m as innocent as they come.”

James giggled, holding on to Natasha’s hand, “Ooops.”

“I hope you’re not talking my favourite nephew into pranking me,” Tony replied, looking straight at Clint.

“As innocent as a sixteen-year-old virgin,” Clint squeaked, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

“You’re about as innocent as that-”

“Ahem,” Steve sighed, clearing his throat, “Let’s not go there. Kid in the room, remember?”

The two stopped bickering almost immediately while James just looked confused, tugging at Natasha’s hand, “What are they talking about, mummy?”

She shook her head, “Just ignore them, James. They’re obviously delusional this early in the morning.”

“I’ve not lost my head,” Tony defended, “It’s all Katniss’ fault anyway.”

Steve chuckled, “Looks like some things never change.”

* * *

They were sat around, chatting about the latest developments when Pepper arrived with four men carrying bags upon bags of shopping. Steve took a guess that it was probably the decorations for the tree. There was no doubt that the Stark’s didn’t mind spending as much money as they deemed necessary.

“The shipment just came, here’s the stuff you ordered,” Pepper smiled, signing off the papers that one of the guys handed her.

“Right on time, thanks, Pep,” Tony replied, tilting his head back over the couch and giving her a kiss, “You heard the lady, let’s get started before the caffeine in my system wears off.”

“Well, I’ll leave you kids to it, but I’m taking James with me to the office. I promised him that I would show him all the latest tech we’ve just rolled out,” Pepper said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Can I go?” James asked, looking hopeful at both him and Natasha. Steve chuckled, “Of course you can have fun.”

Natasha gave him a kiss on his forehead, “We’ll see you later.”

Pepper grinned as James ran off towards her, “I’ll take him home later.”

As the pair disappeared into the elevator, Tony looked at Natasha and Steve with an amused expression, “I mean, would you kill me if I take him in as an intern at Stark Industries?”

Natasha shrugged, “He’s always been into your tech, I wouldn’t mind. What about you, Steve?”

Steve shook his head. Natasha was right, James had developed a fast-growing interest in tech; especially Stark’s tech. He didn’t mind, it was sure as hell less of a dangerous job than the ones they did.

“He’s going to be the next up-and-coming Stark prodigy,” Tony said.

Clint chuckled, standing up, “Looks like Stark’s got a new friend.”

“James is my-”

“ _Our_ , Clint corrected, “James is _our_.”

Tony sighed, “ _Our_ nephew. Of course, he’s my friend. He’s also going to be the best engineer planet Earth has to offer. Have you even seen the way the kid describes our prototypes? He knows more than half the people who’ve worked on it.”

Steve smiled, “That’s his decision, talk to him about it. He’d be over the moon.”

“Can we get started, though?” Clint said, gesturing towards the pile sitting in the middle of the living room floor. He picked up a huge velvet box, flipping it open, “Holy fuck. Is that Swarovski crystal?!”

“Custom made, of course,” Tony shrugged, “Pep did a great job obviously.”

Steve took a good look. It was a star-shaped tree topper, very much like your traditional ones, but it was decorated with diamonds.

“A diamond tree topper?” Natasha said, raising an eyebrow.

“How much did this thing even cost?” Clint asked. His only response was Tony’s nonchalant shrug, “I’m taking a wager at ten grand. I vaguely remember signing it off or something.”

“Shit, that’s expensive,” Clint muttered. “It was a great investment if you ask me,” Tony replied defensively.

“That’s why nobody’s asking,” Natasha said, rolling her eyes, “But anyway, it’s here, so we’d best get started.”

They started off by unpacking everything from the bags. Steve hadn’t seen so many decorations in his life, not outside of a store anyway.

“Better close your mouth, Cap. You might catch flies,” Natasha teased, leaning in to kiss him.

“Very funny,” he replied, pulling out a pack of glass baubles.

“The theme is silver and red in case anyone hadn’t gotten the memo,” Tony called out, waving a candy cane around.

“You’d have to be blind to have missed it,” Clint said. Tony smacked him with the candy cane, “Shut it Katniss, we’re trying to keep it civil.”

It had just occurred to Steve that they were missing two other members, namely an Asgardian God and a green Hulk, “Hey, where’s Thor and Banner?”

“L’Oréal called, Thor had a photo shoot to get to,” Tony shrugged, “Kidding, he’s in Asgard, couldn’t make it. Won’t be back by today. Banner’s at a Physics convention in Ohio.”

“How’d you know?” Clint asked, laughing, “Sent him a pigeon?”

“Very original, Katniss. Actually, Thor told me himself. I saw him the other day before he left,” Tony replied.

“That’s a shame,” Natasha quipped, “Will they be back for Christmas?”

“Well, I’d have to send another pigeon to find out,” Tony replied. Natasha gave him a look and he held his hands up, “Kidding, they’ll be back on Christmas Eve.”

Steve nudged Natasha and she smirked, “At least everyone will be back for Christmas.”

“It’s going to be great. No Christmas party this year,” Tony smiled as he hung a bauble on the tree, “Just us and a couple of friends, of course.”

“It’s going to be great,” Steve smiled.

* * *

“Okay, who's brilliant idea was it to have a fifteen-foot tree?” Clint asked, hands folded across his chest.

“Tony’s obviously,” Natasha replied, sitting down on one of the plush couches. “It’s been three hours and we still haven’t done half the tree,” Clint groaned.

“I mean, this might’ve not been one of my brightest ideas,” Tony shrugged, “But we’re Avengers, we’ve got to make it special.”

“Come on, let’s just pull together and finish it already,” Steve sighed.

“Captain’s orders,” Tony replied, giving him a mock salute.

“Okay, okay,” Clint grumbled, getting off the floor, “Where’s Wanda when you need her?”

“She’ll be here soon,” Natasha called, “Had somewhere to be.”

Steve smiled, honestly, it wasn’t the end of the world. They had the biggest tree to decorate and it was something he had always wanted as a kid. He wasn’t about to start complaining.

“You’re still chipper, Cap,” Clint said, wrapping tinsel around the tree. Steve shrugged, “I’m just enjoying it because as a kid, this was what I’ve always wanted.”

He could see Natasha smile from his peripheral and he smiled himself. It was his favourite time of the year and it was all because he had a family to spend it with.

“Oh gosh, it’s all sentimental now,” Tony smiled, “Come on then, let’s lighten the mood and have fun doing this. Also, it’s way too quiet. Friday?”

“Yes, sir?” The AI responded.

“Crank up the Christmas tunes!”

* * *

They were laughing like maniacs by the time Wanda showed up to help them. She finished it within no time at all and soon, they were just sitting around, admiring their work. The tree sat there, sparkling brightly in all its glory.

“I think we did a great job,” Tony said, taking a sip of the Dom Perignon they had opened up.

“The Avengers spend Christmas together 2016,” Clint smiled, “With a couple of newbies, of course.”

Wanda gasped, “I am not a newbie.” Clint nudged her, a grin on his face as Steve wrapped his arm around Natasha. She smiled, giving him a kiss.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, isn’t it?” Wanda smiled, “The tree looks beautiful.”

“It is, but where are the presents?!” Tony gasped and Clint threw a pillow at him, “You can only open presents on Christmas Day! It’s tradition.”

“Ugh,” Tony sighed, “I’ll have you know I’ve got all your presents being delivered to my office tomorrow to ensure secrecy as Pepper put it.”

“I swear if you get me another album of disco music I will shoot you,” Clint threatened.

“We’ll see,” Tony grinned. Clint’s hatred of disco music was well-founded, especially when Laura seemed to love it so much. Tony just bought him the complete set to irk him because Laura would play it all the time.

Steve chuckled, he was pretty sure it was going to be a great Christmas.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave kudos and comments if you liked it x


End file.
